Overview
- The Justice Department announced that Connecticut Children’s Medical Center agreed to stop providing puberty blockers, cross‑sex hormones and related surgeries to patients under 18 and to pay a monetary penalty plus $500,000 dedicated to restorative medical care.
- The department said the agreement, announced on Aug. 5, resolves its allegations as part of a national probe and credited the hospital for cooperating, while also noting the claims are allegations only and Connecticut Children’s denies them.
- This resolution follows similar deals with Texas Children’s Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and is tied to an investigation that began in July 2025 that involved more than 20 subpoenas.
- News reports say the DOJ has not identified the specific federal statutes it alleges were violated, and separate actions by HHS to link Medicare and Medicaid rules to ending such care are facing legal challenges in multiple states.
- Hospitals have already scaled back some youth programs and patients may lose local access to medical treatments; the dispute is likely to continue in courts and through state actions that have at times ordered care restored.